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| Full name | Megan Leigh Anderson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1974-11-09)9 November 1974 (age 51)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Corpus Christi College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Megan Anderson, also known asMegan McWilliams and previously known asMegan Dehn, is a formerAustralia netball international and current netball coach. Between 2000 and 2006 she made 20 senior appearances for Australia. She was a member of the Australia team that won the silver medal at the2006 Commonwealth Games. During theCommonwealth Bank Trophy era, Anderson was a member ofSydney Swifts teams that wonpremierships in 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007. During theANZ Championship era, she played forSouthern Steel andNorthern Mystics. After retiring as a player in 2011, she became a coach. In 2020 Anderson was appointed head coach ofQueensland Firebirds.
Anderson was raised inWoy Woy, New South Wales. Her mother was a netball umpire and Anderson began played netball, aged 8, with the St John the Baptist netball club and the Woy Woy Peninsula Netball Association atEttalong Beach.[1][4][5] Between 1991 and 1992, Anderson attendedCorpus Christi College.[6][7][8] She is the mother of twins, born c.2014.[9] Anderson is married to Mark McWilliams.
Between 1992 and 1995, Anderson representedNew South Wales in theAustralian National Netball Championships. In 1992 she featured at under-19 level. Between 1993 and 1995 she played at under-21 levels.[5][6]
In 1994, Anderson played for theAustralian Institute of Sport in theMobil Superleague.[10][11]
During theCommonwealth Bank Trophy era, Anderson made 141 appearances, playing 519 quarters and scoring 2507 goals. She played forSydney Sandpipers,Adelaide Ravens andSydney Swifts.[1][12][13][14][15][16]
In 1998 Anderson made 13 appearances forSydney Sandpipers.[13][17]
In 1999 Anderson made 17 appearances forAdelaide Ravens. Together withMichelle den Dekker, she was a member of the Ravens team coached byPatricia Mickan that finished the season as overall runners up. In the grand final, Anderson scored 17 from 30 as Ravens lost 62–30 toAdelaide Thunderbirds.[18]
During two spells with Swifts, Anderson made 111 appearances. She was a member ofSydney Swifts teams that wonpremierships in 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007. Her team mates at Sydney Swifts includedBriony Akle,Jane Altschwager,Catherine Cox andLiz Ellis. Between 2001 and 2005, she played in four grand finals for Swifts.[5][13][14][16][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]
In 2006 and 2007, Anderson played forNorthern Force in theNational Bank Cup. During the breaks in theNew Zealand competition, Anderson travelled back toAustralia to play forSydney Swifts in theCommonwealth Bank Trophy. She was the first player to feature in both competitions at the same time.[7][8][19][26] In 2007, Anderson was a member of the Northern Force team that were defeated bySouthern Sting in the last National Bank Cup grand final.[27][28][29]
Between2008 and2010, Anderson played forSouthern Steel in theANZ Championship.[2][30][31][32] Anderson was originally a member of the2008 New South Wales Swifts squad but subsequently withdrew and joined Steel.[26][33][34][35] In2009,Netball New Zealand initially blocked Anderson from playing for Steel because she was not aNew Zealand citizen and wasn't eligible to represent theNew Zealand national netball team. She subsequently agreed to play forQueensland Firebirds, but later withdrew from the team, citing work commitments. However, in June 2009 she was permitted to re-join Steel as a replacement for the pregnantDaneka Wipiiti. She then played for Steel in the final three rounds and the playoffs.[29][31][36][37][38][39][40] She captained Steel during the 2010 season.[41][42][43]
Anderson played forNorthern Mystics during the2011 ANZ Championship season. She had initially planned to continue playing forSouthern Steel and was applying to become aNew Zealand citizen. Meanwhile, Steel signedNatasha Chokljat, anotherAustralia international. However, Anderson failed to meet the residency requirements required for New Zealand citizenship and Steel found themselves with two import players when they were only permitted to have one. Anderson considered retiring, but was persuaded by Mystics captain,Temepara George to move toAuckland for one last season.[3][9][44][45] She was subsequently a member of the2011 Northern Mystics team that were grand finalists and runners up in theANZ Championship toQueensland Firebirds.[46][47][48][49][50]
| Grand finals | Team | Place | Opponent | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1999[18] | Adelaide Ravens | Runners up | Adelaide Thunderbirds |  17/30 (57%) |
| 2 | 2001[18][25][51] | Sydney Swifts | Winners | Adelaide Thunderbirds | 28/35 (80%) |
| 3 | 2003[22] | Sydney Swifts | Runners up | Melbourne Phoenix | WA |
| 4 | 2004[23][52] | Sydney Swifts | Winners | Melbourne Phoenix | 16/20 (80%) |
| 5 | 2005[23] | Sydney Swifts | Runners up | Melbourne Phoenix | 15/23 (65%) |
| 6 | 2007[27][28][29] | Northern Force | Runners up | Southern Sting | ? |
| 7 | 2011[48][50] | Northern Mystics | Runners up | Queensland Firebirds | WA |
Between 2000 and 2006, Anderson made 20 senior appearances forAustralia. Between 1994 and 1996 she had represented Australia at under-21 level. She made her senior debut on 23 November 2000 in an away match againstSouth Africa. She was the first player to debut for Australia in the 21st century. Anderson was a member of the Australia team that won the silver medal at the2006 Commonwealth Games.[3][5][12][53][54][55][56]
In August 2009, Anderson played for aWorld 7 team, coached byJulie Fitzgerald, that defeatedNew Zealand 2–1 in the2009 Taini Jamison Trophy Series.[39][40][43][57][58][59]
After retiring as a player, Anderson was retained byNorthern Mystics as a specialist coach for the2012 ANZ Championship season.[49][60]
Between2014 and2017, Anderson served as an assistant coach to Robert Wright atNew South Wales Swifts. Specialising in attack, Anderson was part of the coaching team which led Swifts to back-to-backANZ Championship grand finals in2015 and2016.[5][9][61][62][63][64][65]
Between 2017 and 2019, Anderson served as an assistant coach withAustralia. Together with Robert Wright, she served as one ofStacey Marinkovich's assistants at the2017 Fast5 Netball World Series. In 2018 and 2019, together withClare Ferguson, she was an assistant toLisa Alexander.[66][67][68][69][70][71]
In 2020, ahead of the2021 Suncorp Super Netball season, Anderson was appointed head coach ofQueensland Firebirds.[25][72][73]
| Year | Award |
|---|---|
| 2000[74] | Australian Sports Medal |
| 2018[5] | Netball NSW Hall of Fame |
